There are so many things I remember while I was in my coma. I think I am going to break this down into two different posts.
Time doesn’t exist when you are in a coma. It didn’t for me, at least not in a linear sense. I knew I was in a coma but could not tell you how long or what day, week or month it was.
I believe my first memories were of being in a place of spiritual and physical healing.
In the beginning, I was in this wonderful bright and cheerful house with lots of windows and sunshine. The walls were a bright yellow. I could see the sky, clouds, trees, birds, and, yes, of course there were flowers. The people who were around me were happy and helpful. There was also bees flying around and they somehow had something to do with healing me. I remember that surprised me because I don’t like bees at all.
Then the healing room changed and I was being treated by Native American shamans who fed me oats to sustain my life. I remember lying on a bed with the shamans around me doing their healing rituals. I really didn’t like the oats they fed me because my mouth and throat were so very dry. (Note from Chris: This was probably because she was on a ventilator and had a drainage tube down her throat.)
I remember thinking that I was being treated for diabetes, because I could feel the finger pricks as they tested my blood sugars. In real life, a friend of ours had just been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes the year before and I remember he checked his blood sugars all the time. So I had that visualization in my head. (Note from Chris: I hadn’t heard this before. Cee was in pancreatic, renal and respiratory failure without a known cause. They were constantly drawing blood. I don’t remember any finger pricks, though, nor did anyone talk to me about diabetes. They were too focused on keeping her alive to take about the future.)
Those were the first things I really remember. The rest of my memories came and went and where not associated with any kind of a timeline.
I can remember being taken long distances on a gurney to get what I considered was my worst and most painful treatments. During these treatments I felt like I was riding one the gravity rides at a carnival. I hated having to go get these treatments. It always involved fear and pain. (Note from Chris: she did take long journeys on a gurney to have MRIs, CAT scans, and even to have IVs started. Her veins had collapsed and it was hard starting new lines, so they’d take her to Radiology to get them started.)
Part of the time I was on two different kinds of boats.
The first boat was a medical boat. It was a serious boat where I felt lots of pain involved in treatments and trying to get me to breathe on my own. The boat was dark and always full of a lot of doctors and nurses. I couldn’t see beyond my bed and definitely could not roam around the boat.
Then there was the yacht that was big enough to have around 15 people talking and mostly dancing or moving around. All the people were dressed in white and the sun was always shining. Celine Dion was entertaining everyone.
On a side note, my coma was shortly after the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, where I lived at the time of the shooting. Anyhow, Celine Dion came and performed a concert to raise money for the victims’ families and survivors. So I’m sure that’s why she was in my coma. Plus I am just a huge fan of her singing. (Note from Chris: We jokingly refer to this as the vacation she took without me. While I was sweating bullets waiting for test results, pacing the floor or screaming at God for letting this happen, she was off at a private concert with Celine.)
In next week’s post, I will tell you about experiences I had with people who visited me in my coma, and I’ll try to associate with things that were going on with me at the time.
Check out other posts regarding coma.
Wow! What vivid memories of this experience – so dreamlike but nightmarish too.
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Not nightmarish at all. It was more like just normal daily living for me. Hard to put into wrks.
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Well that’s good…less nightmares, the better.
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Oh the one thing I don’t like it nightmares 😀
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What an interesting read and fascinating that you knew you were in a coma (such a rare experience, yet you knew it – perhaps you heard people around you talking?)
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I think I did hear from the people around me that I was in a coma. Hearing is still active while in a coma, so my mind came up with ways of continuing my daily life with what I heard and could sense otherwise,
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Your mind was not in a coma, it just kept on going
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It did just keep working and trying to figure out what was going on. Nice way of looking at it 😀
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Fascinating Cee. I had a close friend who suffered a TBI in a car accident and was in a coma for 2 months. Eyes open, body moving, but not aware at all. I visited everyday, talking, reading, doing whatever. I was holding her hand one day and said to her “Nancy, are you in there, give me a sign… and with that she took her finger and tickled the inside of my palm with it. I ran screaming from the room to get the nurses, it was the first sign of her reacting to a question, being “there” and from there, day by day, she awoke slowly. What a moment. I will never forget it.
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Oh Lisa, I bet you won’t ever forget that magical moment. In next week’s post, I have a similar story from my side of it. I hope you friend is okay now.
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This is such an interesting post. So many things I don’t know about a coma I never would have thought about actually dreaming while in the coma. So glad it was a peaceful place for you!
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For the most part it was. Thanks so much for commenting 😀
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You’re most welcome.
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